Edwin John MILLS

1927 - 2024

A year after losing his 'Honey', Violet, our vibrant Dad and Grampa passed away, at age 96. Edwin was raised above his grandfather's Toronto hardware store, and on a snowy hockey rink in Fitzroy Harbour in the Ottawa Valley. He joined the Canadian Army at 17, and in his 20s enrolled at Queen's University, married Vi and became a civil engineer. In the 1950s he worked in Venezuela's oil sector, when moving overseas with a young family was a novel and formidable undertaking. In the 1960s, the family settled in Barrie with Edwin working at York University on campus design and development, before moving abroad again to do similar work at universities in Botswana, Swaziland and Lesotho. A lifelong fan of Toronto's sports teams, sport featured prominently in Edwin's life, and Vancouver's North Shore offered the perfect climate to ski, cycle, golf and play tennis in his active retirement years. Edwin is survived by his family, Michael (Anne), Terry (Doug), Steven (Erna), Christie (Dave), Rob (Cory), (Zbyszek) and Audrey Neufeld; 13 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren. Edwin was predeceased by his wife, Violet; sister, Carole; and mother, Catherine Mills (née McClelland).